We visited Midway, UT last week and saw the awesome setting for Alex Boye's Frozen video. However, it was more than half melted! Ok, not much of a shocker that ice is melting by the end of February but still... Bummer for our site seeing eyes but good for some inspirational thoughts I had.

As you well remember, Elsa leaves everything she has ever known to create an Ice Castle in the mountains in isolation so she can be herself. This could be paralleled to how we create barriers around ourselves to not let others know who we really are. Are we shutting out love? Yes. Are we shutting out God's work? Yes. Are we limiting our own abilities to perform our duties in His plan for us? Most definitely.

This ice castle up in Midway must have been a spectacular creation to see and walk through. It looks incredible in the music video! Our personal defenses mechanisms are as equally impressive. I have seen years of hurt, pain, and abuse affect some of the people I love most in this world. And yes, it is a natural thing to create an "ice palace" around ourselves in order to even just survive sometimes. These palaces might even be created from pride or hatred, loss or jealousy. Unfortunately, as a female I know I have in pride looked down on others and as a result haven't opened myself up to them. What a shame I have passed over what could have potentially been some great friendships. However, I have also personally seen the effects of letting the Savior's love melt one's "ice" barrier until all there was left were puddles to hop through in delight and love. Ok, cheesy analogy but you get the point. The Savior brings hope, brightness, and warmth. I would argue that love, compassion, and charity are the components to melt our "ice castle." Big or small, we all have them

"Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away."     -1 Corinthians 13:7-8 (New Testament)

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is te greatest of all, for all things must fail-"     -Moroni 7:46 (Book of Mormon)

Charity, the pure love of Christ, is always there to warm our hearts and melt our barriers. If we can let Christ in, then we surely can let our neighbors across the street in as well. Or that family that you've been meaning to talk to for years. I hope we can let those ice castles be replaced with warm, loving relationships. And, the cool thing is it can all start with a prayer.

So be prepared to have your mind blown! I haven't even seen some of his muscles ever defined on any other human being, except maybe the Hulk, Superman, or my new favorite... Thor. :)

February 25 was a special day at our house this week. We hit the one year anniversary of the passing of my mother-in-law, Michelle. For all those who have lost someone dear this post is for you.

Before I begin I just want to thank all family and friends for your continual support. It has been a life changing event for everyone involved and in one year, we have all grown and developed in so many ways.

Here's our story in a nutshell: She was only 47 and was taken by esophageal cancer. Diagnosis to death was only 6 months. She fought hard with a round of chemo and radiation followed by an esophagectomy in December of 2012. Prognosis looked great until she was admitted to ER on Jan 11, 2013 only to find the cancer had metastasized to the liver. This means it was fatal and it was only 6 weeks from that point that she assed away.

She was survived by a husband and 4 children. I am married to her oldest son, Demetrius and we have 2 kids of our own (her only 2 grand kids at this point).

When we found out the cancer was in fact fatal, my husband and I had a very spiritual conversation. As a member of the LDS church we refer to this as the Holy Ghost, but it is the same as the spirit. I truly believe God spoke to us that evening and showed the path we were to present to my inlaws.

Michelle was belated at hearing such an offer but was concerned about our family's life and routine. As the year has passed her concern has been validated...time with my kids has drastically changed. But as my life increased with more time cooking, carpooling, cleaning, soccer, basketball, and whatever else (you name it), I honestly cannot picture it any other way. No matter how heavy it feels sometimes at this point we are all exactly where we need to be; all together and as a united family.

At the end of the day I know that this is God's plan for my family of 4 and for my in-laws family of 3. When I get cards from my husbands side of the family giving me personalized "thank yous" my heart just swells up with the spirit and it helps me keep going. We can in fact buoy each other up through small acts of kindness, such as a card!

Anyway, The path we presented meant the family had a 4 hour move north and into our just big enough home. Michelle's health deteriorated quicker than anyone expected, we did everything we could to empty and consolidate our basement to make room for the big move. (That is like the understatement of the century, with 2 kids under 2 and sooo much work to be done in a 3 week period... Whew, God definitely sent me strength.)

The move in with us was truly was the best thing we could do to keep the family together. She passed away only 2 weeks within moving in, leaving her husband, a 15 yr old and an 11 yr old to start sharing a daily life routine with us.

Ok, the facts are laid out, time for the uplift. Although we are not perfect, although we are figuring out our path in life, one day at a time, we need to remember we are on the Lord's errand.

When I can almost literally see my sanity cup about to spill over from suddenly having an added 2 teenagers on top of my 2 toddlers, God sends me a message and I honestly believe Michelle does, too. It's pretty cool, it has happened almost every two months since they've moved in.

The most frequent came from a prayer said aloud from one of the teenagers stating, "We are grateful to all be together as a family and to not have a broken home." Oh how that grabbed my heart! Yay for tiny glimpses into teenagers hearts! It reminds me this is God's work and it is huge! It's so much bigger than me!

I'll share the first real emotional awakening as well because I think it's pretty funny and it was pretty embarrassing for me! It was more of an overwhelming emotion, the 11 year old scored in his soccer game and I started to cry! Seriously, tears rolling down my cheeks, a very mom-proud emotional moment sent to me no doubt from my mother-in-law. I really am not an emotional person, but it's moments like these that let me feel a lil more love and a lot less frustration. I turned to my husband sitting next to me and sniffly through my words shared, "I didn't know I liked him this much!" Of course I love him like a sis-in-law but if I was solely that role, I most definitely wouldn't have been crying my eyes out. Yep, Michelle was there with me, giving me a mom moment!

I hope the spirit can guide us to reach out to someone, big event or small. Whoever it is, let them feel a part of something, let them feel love. Please share about those whom you have and if they have reached out to you from the other side.

A little about myself: I have played soccer my entire life, kind of obsessively actually. Luckily it worked out for me and I got recruited to play NCAA Division I Women's Soccer in College. I love sports and the body soooo much that I graduated in Sports Medicine with a minor in Biological Sciences. Seriously, I am level headed enough to confess that I am a biology nerd. I hope to spread some of my nerdiness knowledge to you and ignite the "awe" of wonder inside of you about how your body does what it does.

 Since graduation I have taught 2 years of Medical Assisting, worked 4 years as an Exercise Specialist in Cardiac Rehabilitation, and have 4 years and running with Personal Training. A cool fact about me is that I got accepted to a Physician Assistant program but decided to focus on the family first and become a professional outside the home a little later in life. Hardest choice I have ever had to make but that's a different story!

I plan on uploading workouts within this next week but for now I have a challenge to post:


Mission #1- Count Carbs

Start reading nutrition labels. The 3 macronutrients our body needs are protein, fat, and carbohydrates. We break down everything we need from those three macros. Lets focus on carbohydrates.

Within this next week I want you to start to read how many carbohydrates are in the foods you eat. Total them up for your daily sum. I have read a bunch of websites stating the recommended grams/day for women is around 130 grams. So Mission Super Moms here we go! Let's give it a go! 

Now, we are talking good carbs! Sure, I love bread and pasta like the average Jane so this is a challenge for me too! I'll track my progress with you. To give you a starting point, if you have one cup of pasta it is going to be around 80 grams and that's without dressing! Dang, right!? On the flip side, an apple is around 30 g. Our body needs majority of our carbs to be from fruits and vegis. They are not processed, they are pure; I'm sure by now you have seen something about the Paleo diet and the arguments about it. If not give it a read. Here's a site that I found that was pretty funny and informative: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/

I am not totally gung-ho about the paleo diet. For me feeding a family of 6... yeah right?! But I think all things in moderation an it's time to moderate them carbs! LOL.

In conclusion, count your carbs by reading nutrition labels or googling "calorie counters" and let's adjust our diet this week to aim for <130g. Good luck!

I have included a tracker sheet for you, I'll continue to build as we go! 



 

Hugh Jackman at his best but not. A must see! Guaranteed laughs!

http://shechive.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/botw-171.jpg

Endorphines are released every time we laugh... so let's do it more. Someone recently told me to "not be so nice to people." What the?! Ummmm.... I'm speechless. So I'm currently working on that request.

Oh, and also, I was just introduced to the Kid President videos. This started my day off right today and oh my gosh you will love this little guy:

We have been thinking about putting together a blog for years. We want to present something epic, something unique, something of super sustenance. So, without further ado... I present an adventurous blog of mother and daughter. All those things you are scared to try to do, we are simply going to do them, try it out. What's the worse thing that'll happen? You have to throw something away or skip a part of the workout (temporarily of course)? It's time to push ourselves and hold ourselves to a higher level of creating! We are  talking about creating muscle, relationships, knowledge, artsy crafts, and soooo much more!!!! We present to you an educational personal training blog (I'll teach you about our amazing bodies as we burn that fat!), a crafty blog, a kid blog, a family time blog, a Christian blog, a giving back blog; a downright awesomely eclectic blog. Let's hold ourselves accountable to not stand still any longer and make a difference in our lives and others